Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


JOSEPH M. WORKMAN, 
 
son of William Workman, deceased, one of the early pioneers in Southern 
California, and one of the founders of the first bank opened in Los Angeles, was 
born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1833. William Workman was then, and for some 
years after, a merchant trader in that old town. He came to California in the 
forties, and prior to 1846 obtained by grant from the Mexican Government, the 
Alcatras, or Bird Island, on which the State penitentiary is situated, in San 
Francisco Bay, which was subsequently taken possession of by the United States 
Government; but the title was never transferred by him, and the original deed to 
that now valuable property is in possession of his heirs, who have not, up to 
the present time, contested their rights in the courts. After coming to this 
coast William Workman was extensively engaged in the livestock business, in the 
San Joaquin country and in Los Angeles County. Being a farmer and stock‑grower 
by occupation, he purchased, and owned for many years, 20,000 acres of the La 
Puente Rancho, now owned by E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin, having accumulated a fine 
fortune for those days. He, in company with I. W. Hellman, and F. P. Temple, his 
son-in-law, started the first bank in Los Angeles, which was known as the 
Temple-Workman Bank, which prospered finely for years. Mr. Workman finally 
withdrew from any active participation in its affairs, entrusting the management 
entirely to Mr. Temple, in whom he had unbounded confidence. But the sequel 
proved that the trusted son-in-law lacked some of the elements of a successful 
banker; for the bank became involved in financial difficulties and failed, 
sweeping away not only $80,000 in cash of Mr. Workman's money, but his entire 
estate, bringing upon him financial ruin in his old age�he being then about 
seventy-six years old. The stroke was too much for his proud English spirit, and 
so unsettled his mind that he committed suicide, thus ending an active and 
useful life, in 1873. His widow, a Spanish lady whom he married in Santa F�, 
still survives, and resides in this county. Joseph Workman was taken back East 
in his infancy, and lived in the family of David Workman, his father's brother, 
a number of years. In 1854 he left Missouri and crossed the plains to 
California; and after spending several months in Los Angeles County, went up 
into the San Joaquin Valley and superintended a large cattle ranch owned by his 
father and Mr. Temple, from 1856 till 1870. In the fall of the latter year he 
married Miss Belt, daughter of Judge George G. Belt, of Stockton, and soon after 
settled in Los Angeles County, which has been his home ever since. Two or three 
years later he purchased over 800 acres of the La Puente Ranch, fifteen miles 
from Los Angeles, moved on to it, and engaged in the stock business, first 
keeping sheep, but upon the decline in the price of wool, changing to cattle. In 
1881, desiring better advantages than the country offered for educating their 
children, Mr. and Mrs. Workman decided to lease their ranch and remove to the 
city. Buying a large lot, 162 x 300 feet, on Boyle avenue (Boyle Heights), they 
erected their present fine residence, and have since highly improved the grounds 
about it, making it one of the most picturesque and beautiful homes in this part 
of the State. Mr. Workman's ranch property is situated on the line of the 
Southern Pacific Railroad, two miles from Puente station; is fine farming land, 
and under a high state of cultivation, as is evidenced from the fact that his 
tenant made $6,000 off the crop of 1888.  Mr. Workman has not engaged in any 
active business since residing in the city, but is enjoying a happy, retired 
life with his wife and family of four daughters and two sons, ranging in age 
from six to eighteen years.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 683
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler